20. Nephrolepis arida D.L. Jones

Nephrolepis arida D.L. Jones (1988) 474 . - Type: Jones 1598 (holo DNA n.v.; iso K), Australia.

The duplicate in K of the type of this species is a well-developed plant, with basal scales somewhat thickened in the best developed tuft, and spreading sideways away from the stipe exactly like in N. biserrata . Sori are irregularly shaped, most reniform, but some are more athyrioid with unequal base, and none contain well-developed sporangia. On the whole, the characters of this specimen are consistent with a hybrid origin involving almost certainly N. biserrata and possibly N. cordifolia, but considering that the specimens occur in sites where the growth conditions for Nephrolepis appear to be marginal, it may also represent a somewhat aberrant specimen of the former.